Irving Shipbuilding Orders 165-meter Shiplift Drydock from Bardex

Irving Shipbuilding has awarded Bardex Corporation a contract for a 165-meter shiplift drydock to support its River-class destroyer shipbuilding program for the Royal Canadian Navy.

With a capacity of over 27,000 metric tons, the OmniLift Shiplift will include fifty-six 575-metric ton chain jack lift stations. According to Bardex, the shiplift drydock will be the largest in the Americas.

“A reliable, long-term shiplift asset is vital to the success of the River-class program and partnering with the world class Bardex Corporation to implement this project is the first step. We now look forward to working closely with Bardex and their chain jack technology moving forward,” said Charles Clow, Director of River-class destroyer infrastructure at Irving Shipbuilding.

“We’re honored to have been selected to support this mission-critical piece of marine infrastructure. Our chain jack technology has a decades-long proven track record for boosting fleet readiness. As we rebrand our lift systems with the OmniLift name, we’re on a mission to rewrite how the world thinks about shiplifts and drydocks. Our collaboration with Irving and our local agent, NOSO, is the next chapter of delivering a technology unlike anything else on the market.” said Thomas Miller, CEO & President at Bardex.

Irving was selected in 2011 to build the new fleet of combat vessels for the Canadian Navy. To date, four Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) have been delivered and a further two are under construction. The company is also building two variants of the AOPS for the Canadian Coast Guard before commencing the larger River-class destroyer Fleet.